Dr. Tony Holohan:

I had an opportunity to brief this committee in private session a couple of weeks ago and we had a good discussion on that occasion. I set out for the committee the nature of the opportunity and the ambition this would have represented for the country but when I saw the concerns being expressed in public I thought it was important I made an early decision, which I did, that I would not proceed with the role. I had two broad objectives in that regard. One, was to try to ensure - I said it in the words I issued in public on that occasion – that both senior civil servants and senior politicians would not continue to be diverted by the ongoing nature of it. I genuinely wanted to ensure that. The second objective was that I had substantial regard for Trinity and for the Provost, in particular, and for their early support in this. I had no desire to see them being drawn into any, if you like, suggestion of impropriety of controversy, of which they had no part whatsoever.

I wanted to make a clean and early decision in relation to that, a decision I did not necessarily set out to make in the first instance. I had a good opportunity to brief the committee on the last occasion on the nature of my personal motivation around both the nature of this work in public health and the commitment to working on that work in the public service. That was my personal ambition.